Floor Angels

Start with the knees bent and the feet flat on the floor. We start the hands at the ears and extend all the way up over the head by reaching out as far as possible. Have the athletes try to keep their arms completely flat on the floor the entire time. This is a great mobility drill for unloaded scapular upward rotation and elevation, and is incredible for stretching the lats. The biggest cue for athletes is to drive the low back into the floor. When the low back arches off of the ground it is compensation for lat tightness. The lumbar spine and lats are highly correlated with each other due to the lats origin on the bottom 6 thoracic vertebrae, as well as the 5 lumbar vertebrae. Any lat tightness will be reflected with arching of the lower back in order to keep the arms on the floor.